Apple Sued in Russia Over Third-party App Logo

By Jeff Gamet

Jan 17th, 2013 10:15 AM EST

Russian Railways has filed a lawsuit against Apple in Moscow after finding its logo in a third-party app icon. Apparently the makers of the Railway Tariff app rolled the company's logo into its icon without permission.

Apple sued for Russian Railways logo in third-party app

Russian Railways targeted Apple with its lawsuit to protect its intellectual property, according to RIA Novosti. The app in question shows price estimates and delivery times for cargo transported by train in Russia.

This isn't the first time Apple has dealt with unlicensed railway-related graphic use with its iOS devices. In fall 2012 the Apple had to strike a licensing deal with Swiss Federal Railways after using the company's well known clock face design as its iPad Clock app icon, although in that case it was Apple using the graphic and not a third-party app developer.

Filing a lawsuit against Apple instead of the app designer will likely get Railway Tariff pulled from the App Store quickly, which is probably what Russian Railways wants. The app developer can update the icon at their own pace while Russian Railways doesn't have to worry about whether or not shoppers think it supports the app, and the railway will see faster action than if it targeted the developers directly.